


A Difference of Opinion

by zaan



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23954893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zaan/pseuds/zaan
Summary: Odo and Kira discuss Garak.
Relationships: Elim Garak & Odo, Kira Nerys & Odo
Comments: 17
Kudos: 101





	A Difference of Opinion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pyrrhic_victory](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyrrhic_victory/gifts).
  * Inspired by [a small white room](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23504659) by [pyrrhic_victory](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyrrhic_victory/pseuds/pyrrhic_victory). 



> This work was inspired by pyrrhic_victory's wonderful fic A Small White Room. This scene came to me when I was reading the chapter Small Developments. It takes place after the chapter The Small White Room

Kira strode into the security office and stopped in front of Odo's desk, her hands firmly planted on her hips and a frown firmly planted on her face.

"You wanted to see me about Garak?"

Odo looked up from his report. "Yes. I need your statement about what happened in the infirmary."

Kira shrugged. "He grabbed a knife and was threatening people with it, what more do you need?"

Odo quirked his head at her and waited.

"Fine," she huffed. "He was quiet at first but ... odd. Shaky, and his eyes were flying around the room but he wasn't looking at anything specific that I could see. I asked what happened to him and he got defensive. He said something like _'You should know_.' Then Julian dragged him off into a corner. I don't know what they were talking about, I couldn't hear them, but it was maybe a quarter of an hour later when Julian tried to take him into the side room and he practically jumped through the wall. He started accusing Julian of wanting to lock him up. Then Julian, the idiot, grabs a sedative and that's when Garak grabbed the knife –"

"The scalpel."

"The scalpel - and started screaming at everyone to leave him alone. He even swore, which I don't think I've ever heard him do before." 

Odo finished recording his notes and looked up. "Anything else?"

"I grabbed my phaser, Julian told me to get you, and as soon as he heard your name Garak took off. I don't know what happened after that." She glanced down the hallway and her frown doubled. "You don't have him in a cell?"

"No, he's staying with Doctor Bashir."

Kira phasered him with her eyes. "What? After that stunt he pulled? Odo, what were you thinking?"

Odo stiffened his posture. "Doctor Bashir was adamant that locking Garak up would only make things worse. I concurred."

Kira slapped her hands on the desk and leaned forward. "Odo, he's dangerous. Odds are, he's a traitor too. You can't let him play these games."

"What makes you so sure he's playing games?" Odo replied. He didn't lean away, and Kira straightened up first. She snorted and crossed her arms.

"Right. Garak, not playing games."

Odo hesitated. He valued privacy more than liberty, and though he would lock Garak up without qualms in the interest of station security, he was reluctant to speak about him. He weighed the betrayal against the consequences of Kira's enmity and made his decision. 

He opened a video file on the screen and swivelled the monitor around.

Kira glanced at it then back at Odo. "What is this?"

Odo nodded at the screen. "It's footage we recovered from the detention centre."

Odo watched Kira watching. Her initial bluster became tinged with discomfort as she watched the gory scene. She shifted softly from foot to foot and held her arms tightly against her, her eyes flicking from the bloody, naked Cardassian to the crusts of blood sticking to the walls and the floor. Interrogations were never pleasant, but he doubted Kira had envisioned the sheer exhausting brutality brought to the exercise by the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar.

Kira squinted and leaned forward to better hear the faint audio. "Wait – is he talking to Heret?" She swung round to look at Odo. "She was in the other cell, then?"

Odo shook his head. "No. We found records of Heret. She was kept in the main compound. She was killed in an escape attempt two weeks after her capture. Garak ... only thought he was talking to Heret."

Kira's eyes flicked back to the screen, then she turned to study Odo. "You don't think he told them anything.". A statement, not a question. 

"I don't know what he told them. I don't even think he knows. I'm not convinced there wasn't a security breach, but I am convinced that Garak wasn't fully conscious of what he was doing." He shut off the video and said, "He got a phaser from his old quarters. He tried to shoot himself when we cornered him."

"It was for show," Kira insisted, though Odo could see her conviction start to crack under the weight of evidence. 

"I can assure you it wasn't. If Doctor Bashir's hadn't reacted as quickly as he did, Garak would be dead."

Kira turned the blank screen back around to face Odo. "Why are you showing me all this, Odo? Do you want me to feel sorry for him?"

"No. I want you to stop making the situation worse."

"All right," she agreed, the fight out of her. She turned to leave but paused at the door, looking back. "Thank you, Odo."

"For what?"

"For being you." She smiled and left. 

Odo sat for while, then turned back to his report.


End file.
